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"who heard their groaning and remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."
- 2: 25, Good News Translation, see link below.
1 - 2 Summary:
Two members of the Tribe of Levi married, and had a son that was "towb" (beautiful / pleasant / etc) and they hid him for three months.
NOTE: If you just go by this verse, you would think that the boy was their first child. He wasn't.
3 Summary:
When she could no longer hide him she got a small reed boat and put him in it along the Nile.
4
"way" (and) "yatsab" (stood / set) his "achoth" (sister) "rachoq" (distance), "yada" (to know, understand) "mah" (what) "asah" (done / happen) to him.
The baby's sister was old enough to be given such an assignment and be trusted to carry it out.
5
And "yarad" (came down / descended) "bat / bath" (daughter (term is not a proper noun)) of Pharaoh to "rachats" (bathe / wash) at "yeor" (river / Nile), and her "naarah" (young girls / maidens (implies servant girls)) "halak" (walked / proceeded) "al" (along / side) "yeor" (river) - and when she "raah" (saw) the "tebah" (ark / basket) in the reeds she sent her maidservant to get it.
another royal tangent: (the first was in the Ws in the introduction)
The 'princess' is never named in this section, and that title is not used. So we are free to speculate as to who this may be. The 'daughter of Pharaoh' could, and that 'could' should be emphasized, be Hatshepsut. It is total speculation, and moves the life of Moses back several years, but all the factors of the story are still in play if it is her as a young woman and the daughter of Thutmose the First who ruled around 1500 BC. Also, the dates of the Life of Moses by anybody are a guess at best, and wishful thinking at worse. The same can be said for this period of the history of ancient Egypt including the life of Hatshepsut.
When you look into the biographies of the rulers of the time the dates of when they ascended to the throne, and the year they 'passed it on' to the next ruler are just as much a guess. Centuries are swapped back and forth and listed with question marks and asterisk notes that another scholar has a given event in 1650 BC instead of 1520, and really, both are probably wrong.
One thing in our favor with having the erstwhile 'queen' be either the king in chapter one, or Moses's step mother, is that later Moses has Instant access to the throne room, and is known to the sitting Pharaoh. As many of these rulers had a primary wife (the Royal Wife who was supposed to produce the heir), a secondary wife(s), and consorts, and other women around, and may have children they didn't claim, or perhaps even know about, isn't unusual. For one of their 'second string daughters' to suddenly have a child may not even be noticed. According to various histories of the throne, Amenhotep the First, the father/stepfather/etc of Thutmose I who was the father of both Hatshepsut and Thutmose II, had at least three known siblings, and probably a few more that are unnamed in the official histories.
Another possible identity of the 'daughter of the pharaoh' is that it could be Neferure, the only known child of Hatshepsut as the Royal Wife of Thutmose II. As an adult she held several positions of authority in the palace, and is thought to have only had one natural child that survived to adulthood.
So while it isn't impossible that the 'daughter of pharaoh' in this section was the daughter of some minor wife, or even concubine, it makes more sense to the story that she was of higher status, and the boy was introduced as an 'official' grandchild to the King once he was weaned.
end tangent
6
She opens the basket, the "naar" (boy) "bakah" (wept / cried). She "chamal" (compassion / pity) on him, and said "yeled" (child) of the "Ibri" (Hebrews)
7 - 9 Summary and analysis:
And said his sister to the daughter of Pharaoh....
Observation: The baby's sister is old enough, and BOLD enough to approach the 'princess' and make the statement she made about finding a 'wet nurse' for the child.
The daughter of Pharaoh accepts her idea, and the girl, now identified with the same term as her attendants, goes and finds her own mother.
Who the royal daughter then hires as a paid nursemaid for the child, which implies that this 'daughter of the king' had some spending money available.
10
And "gadal" (grow / bring up (includes the idea of 'becoming great')) the child, and she "bo" (brought / bring to) him to the daughter of Pharaoh, and he "hayah" (to be / become / come to pass) a "ben" (son) to her. So she called his name "Moseh / Mosheh" (rescued from the water).
Contrary to recent animated movies, and musical stage productions, no royal title is EVER used for Moses except in once verse below (and it isn't used by anybody in authority then!), and in fact, while in our discussion of this passage the word 'princess' may be used to describe the king's daughter, that term is not in the original language. While it is made clear that she IS part of the royal household, she is not in the line of succession, and neither is her adopted son. Which makes our speculation as to whether or not she might be Hatshepsut more interesting because she DID insert herself into the succession by becoming her stepson's regent.
11 Summary and observations:
Moses is now "gadal" (grown / etc), he goes out to "ach" (relatives / kinfolk) and "raah" (sees / looks upon) their "siblah" (suffering / burden (includes 'hard labor')) - and he saw - "Mitsri" (Egyptian) "nakah" (strike / beat (includes: 'harm', 'slay' and 'kill' (remember that, it comes up again in a moment))) an "Ibri" (Hebrew) "ach" (brother / kin).
Time has passed, the only clue as to how much is that the baby that was in the basket is now described as 'grown'. Meaning that he is a 'young man'. Is he 17, 18? Is he 25? we don't know.
It is also interesting to note that Moses, having grown up in the palace, knows he is a 'Hebrew'.
12 Paraphrase and comment:
Moses looks around and when he thinks nobody is watching, he kills the Egyptian and buries him in the sand.
He grew up in the palace, probably with more Hebrew slaves around than Egyptians. He'd seen Hebrews beaten before, which is why the second meaning of the word in verse 11 is important. Something had to provoke him to act this time, and the unjust killing of a 'brother' would be it.
A Quick Time Out for a bit of Family History:
Remember back in our study of Genesis when Simeon and Levi, two of the founding 'Sons of Israel' avenged the rape of their sister by slaughtering an entire village. See chapter 34 for a refresher (link below). That incident was part of the reason that when the time comes, in Egypt in chapter 49, Jacob / Israel reminds Levi that his anger is strong and his wrath cruel and will causes issues in the future.
We are told in the beginning of this chapter of Exodus that Moses is a Levite. And his temper shows up again in a place or two later in the story as well.
end time out
13 - 14 Summary and analysis:
For reasons that are unexplained, Moses returns to the scene of the crime, and comes across two Hebrew men having a violent disagreement where the word from earlier is used: "nakah" (to strike / beat (to cause harm...)). So he asks one of them why they're fighting. And his answer is the only time a royal title is used for Moses when the slave asks who made him "sar" (ruler / captain / prince / taskmaster / etc) and "shaphat" (judge / governor (to deal out punishment)) over them, and you can see in the language that it isn't used in any serious way. Then he asks Moses if he intends to kill him the way he did the Egyptian. And Moses realizes that he didn't get away with murder.
15 Summary and Analysis.
Pharaoh hears the news and looks to kill Moses for it. But Moses skips town to end up by a well in Midian.
Ancient Midian is a known land south-east of Israel. In today's Jordan and down into Saudi Arabia. Which means that because the airline schedules of Moses's time were somewhat unreliable, he probably was on the road with a trade caravan for several weeks before he arrived there from the Egyptian capital city of Memphis, about 400 miles away.
- ("and now the story gets weird") -
16 - 17 Summary and Analysis.
Now the "kohen" (priest) of Midian....
That's all it says. We don't know, as yet, what sort of priest he is, although later his name gives us a hint. We know he is a priest, in Midian, and in a moment, we learn a bit about his family.
.... had seven daughters. They come to draw water from the well for their flock, which, as we saw in Genesis was something the women did in this culture. Some shepherds try to hijack the water trough for their own animals. Moses objects. And as we've seen, he has quite the temper, so the shepherds either back off or exit stage left. Then he helps the girls water their animals. Which is something 'regular men' didn't do in this culture.
18 - 20 Summary and Analysis.
The girls go home and tell their father, Reuel...
And now we have a clue as to who this is. This name is seen in the line of descent from Esau starting in Genesis 36 in Edom, in the same general area that became Midian. So it is possible that this priest is at least nominally a 'friend of God' which is what the name is thought to mean. Later, in chapter three for instance, he is also called Jethro, and he's called other things elsewhere, but he is always identified with his relationship to Moses.
.... that an Egyptian delivered them from the shepherds, and helped them with the water. Their father asks where is he, and why did they leave him at the well. Then he sends them back to invite the man to supper.
21 - 22 Summary and Analysis.
Moses stayed, 'the man' gave him "Tsipporah" (Zipporah) his daughter...
There is no mention of what Zipporah thought of the matter. Again, the women of this time and place were property. First of their father, then of their husband.
She bore him a son that was named "Gereshom" (Gershom (the meaning is unknown)), he said "a stranger I have been in a land Strange", so that might be what the name means, but it is uncertain.
23 Summary and comment:
After a long reign, the King of Egypt died....
It does not use the word Pharaoh, it also does not specify a time from any of the other events in the story. Just based on what we've read so far in chapter two, it's been over a year since Moses killed the Egyptian, and over twenty years since his birth. Facts which also come into play while talking about Hatshepsut who ruled for just a tick over 20 years. See link below.
.... and "anach" (groaned / sighed (includes 'mourned')) the sons of Israel because of the "abodah" (labor / work) - and they "zaaq" (cried out / called out), and their cries came up to God, because of the bondage.
24
So "shama" (heard / listen) "'Elohim" (God) their "anach" (groans...), and "zakar" (called to mind / remember) God the "berith" (covenant / treaty) with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
25
"way" (and) "yar" (see / saw) "'Elohim" "ben" (sons) of Israel, "way" (and) "yada" (know / understand / acknowledge) "'Elohim".
End Chapter 2
Selected Resources:
All links will open in a new tab/window, all were working as of original date of posting:
Interlinear English / Hebrew: Chapter 2 https://biblehub.com/interlinear/exodus/2.htm https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/1611_Exodus-Chapter-2/
The Good News Translation https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%202&version=GNT
from The Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum (the one with the Thoth android!):
"Hatshepsut was the first female pharaoh to rule Egypt with the full power of the position. She ruled for twenty years. Hatshepsut was pharaoh during the Eighteenth Dynasty. After the death of her husband, Thutmose II, Hatshepsut didn’t claim the title as pharaoh of Egypt right away. Instead, she was regent on behalf of her stepson (born to a secondary wife), Thutmose III, who was a young child at the time. After less than seven years, however, Hatshepsut took the unprecedented step of assuming the title and full powers of a pharaoh herself, becoming co-ruler of Egypt with Thutmose III. She claimed to be the child of Amun and transformed herself into a king by wearing the symbols of kingship. She emphasized her right to rule through her bloodline."The National Museum of Egyptian Civilization: Hatshepsut https://nmec.gov.eg/mummies-hall/hatshepsut/
https://egyptianmuseum.org/explore/new-kingdom-ruler-hatshepsut
WARNING: Chapter 34, discussed below, contains one of the most violent and bloodiest incidents in all of Genesis. https://centralparkchurchofchrist.org/genstudy/gen33-34.htm
NOTE: The Bible Study Lesson presented above is posted as a reference document to begin a conversation of the topic. And that's it. Please accept it at such.
http://centralparkchurchofchrist.org
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